On 18 July, NYMEX WTI crude futures closed at $108.04/bbl, up by $1.56/bbl from 17 July.

January 2014 LLDPE futures, the most actively traded contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), closed at yuan (CNY) 10,660/tonne ($1,736/tonne), up by CNY120/tonne from the settlement price of CNY10,540/tonne on 18 July.

Around 1.36m tonnes of LLDPE, or 542,954 contracts, for delivery in January 2014 were traded on 19 July, according to DCE data.

Chinese petrochemical giants Sinopec and PetroChina both raised their offers of LLDPE resin for some regions this week, further strengthening the positive outlook in both the futures and spot markets, according to market sources.

Spot LLDPE prices in the Chinese domestic market rose by CNY50-100/tonne to CNY10,800-11,100/tonne on 19 July, compared with the previous day’s prices at CNY10,750-11,000/tonne, the trader added.